New York Tells Microsoft to Get Its Butterfly Decals Out of Town

By DAVID W. DUNLAP

Published: October 25, 2002

Two days after city inspectors ripped up illegal Nike advertising decals glued to sidewalks along Central Park West, Microsoft unleashed a swarm of large adhesive butterflies in Manhattan.

They settled yesterday morning on sidewalks and doorways; traffic signals, stop signs and planters. They alighted on the bluestone paving around Grand Army Plaza and the granite corners around Grand Central Terminal.

Their blue, green, orange and yellow wings had spans of 12 to 20 inches, the larger ones accompanied by a caption — "It's better with the Butterfly" — advertising Microsoft's new MSN 8 Internet service.

"This is nothing more than corporate graffiti," said Vanessa Gruen, director of special projects for the Municipal Art Society, a civic organization that has long battled commercialization of public space. "It's no better than all those kids out there tagging subway cars."

And no more legal, city officials said.

"We intend to hold your firm directly responsible for this illegal, irresponsible and dangerous defacing of public property," wrote Cesar A. Fernandez, assistant counsel of the Transportation Department, in a letter sent yesterday to the Microsoft Corporation.

His letter instructed Microsoft to remove the decals from city property immediately and warned that further placement might lead to "legal proceedings which may include, but not be limited to, a request for injunctive relief and additional monetary damages; and criminal prosecution."

"I trust and hope that these offensive activities are not the authorized acts of your organization's employees and agents," Mr. Fernandez wrote, requesting a reply from Microsoft with assurances that its promotional staff and agents would be directed "to avoid such illegal conduct."

A single summons was issued, with a $50 penalty, though each butterfly could have been subject to a $50 fine, said Tom Cocola, the assistant commissioner for public affairs at the transportation agency. He said the city's chief goal was seeing to it that the decals are removed.

Microsoft, for its part, insisted that it was authorized to place the decals.

"There are permits for everything," said Colleen Lacter of Waggener Edstrom, a public relations firm representing Microsoft, emerging from a tent at Wollman Rink in Central Park after an MSN 8 promotional event.

"This is not a repeat of Nike," she added. But she would not tell a reporter what agency had issued the permits. After a brief huddle with two people whom she identified as being from McCann-Erickson, the advertising firm handling the account, Ms. Lacter said: "There's nothing else to say. They didn't want to get into a discussion about the details."

The law, Section 19-138 of the New York City administrative code, states: "It shall be unlawful for any person to deface any street by painting, printing or writing thereon, or attaching thereto, in any manner, any advertisement or other printed matter."

The butterflies found on vertical surfaces were made of flimsy plastic, held in place by static electricity and easily removable. The sidewalk decals were a heavier plastic, with a roughly textured surface. Though they were stuck to the pavement, they too could be lifted off fairly easily.

And that is what the Grand Central Partnership set out to do yesterday afternoon as it confronted butterfly decals on some of the special pink granite sidewalks it has installed at 172 intersections from Fifth to Second Avenues, 38th to 48th Streets. These include curb cuts for the disabled.

"Anything that impairs the ability of someone to move on those accessible corners is a concern," said Marc A. Wurzel, general counsel to the partnership, which runs the business improvement district. "It's a unique form of guerrilla advertising."

In a state of some astonishment, Ms. Gruen took in the scene outside the Municipal Art Society office at the Villard Houses, Madison Avenue and 51st Street. There were butterflies on building facades, a telephone booth and a Grand Central Partnership newspaper vending machine.

"It's illegal," she said, "and they're going to get a lot of publicity for it."

That may have been the point. "It's a tremendous opportunity," Ms. Lacter said, "for us to build brand awareness."